Michael Dunlop’s grip of the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races continued on Sunday afternoon as he broke the race record by almost a minute to win the RST Superbike race, his 23rd victory in total which saw him draw level with John McGuinness as the second most successful TT rider ever.
Dunlop led from start to finish on the Hawk Racing Honda to win by 8.2 seconds as Peter Hickman (Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW) narrowly missed out on a new outright lap record with a speed of 135.445mph on his final lap. Dean Harrison (DAO Racing Kawasaki) was again third.
In a repeat of Saturday’s Supersport race, Dunlop was controlling the race from the front with Hickman slowly reeling Harrison in as they battled for second whilst Hillier was now up to fourth having pulled four seconds clear of Todd halfway round lap three.
At half race distance, Dunlop’s lead had gone up to 18.8s but there was disappointment for Todd whose race was over as he pulled into the pits to retire. That elevated Hillier up to fourth with Coward and McGuinness now up to fifth and sixth respectively and, further back, Rob Hodson moved into the top ten.
Dunlop was able to control the race over the final two laps, despite Hickman’s late charge and came home for his second win of the week with Harrison completing the podium in third.
Hillier and Coward were rewarded for their fine rides with fourth and fifth as McGuinness, Brookes, Herbertson, Rutter and Anderson completed the top ten.
